METFORMIN Pros/Cons?
(deactivated member)
on 10/17/08 8:00 am - Rochester, NY
on 10/17/08 8:00 am - Rochester, NY
OK....just returned from my doctor and my A1C remains at 6.1. My doctor has wanted to put me on Metformin for months now and I've resisted only because I dislike taking medications and figured I could control this through diet. (If I stuck to healthy choices, I probably could)
Came home with a Rx today for it, but still unsure whether I will take it or not. I'm tempted to give this one last try on my own and be religious about my diet and exercise and see if I can make a difference before I have to return to him in January.
Anybody have any experience (either positive or negative) with this drug?
I appreciate any input....Sherrie
Came home with a Rx today for it, but still unsure whether I will take it or not. I'm tempted to give this one last try on my own and be religious about my diet and exercise and see if I can make a difference before I have to return to him in January.
Anybody have any experience (either positive or negative) with this drug?
I appreciate any input....Sherrie
Hey Sherrie,
I'm about ready to walk out the door but I just wanted to say that one doctor I went to a few years ago (the only one here at Providence for weight loss), was going to put me on it. I actually even got the prescription but like you....never followed through with it. This doctor told he I would see a significant difference in how much I ate after a while. Heck, give it a try. If I had a doctor hand it to me right now again, I would be taking it in a heartbeat. Times wasting away girl. Give it a shot! What do you have to lose other than just not wanting to take it?? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!! Take it,worse that could happen is that you don't like it and then what, just stop taking it!
My husband takes Metformin, which I understand is to help control your blood sugar if you're a diabetic. He's a borderline diabetic, and he also takes another medication, which I can't remember the name of right now.
If you're diabetic, and have trouble controlling your blood sugar with diet alone, then I suggest you take the Metformin. My husband also tests his blood sugar with a tiny blood tester and test strips twice a day, before breakfast and after his last meal of the day, which is dinner. So far, he hasn't had any complications from his diabetes, but we are both trying to lose weight, which I know will help control it better. I don't have diabetes, but I avoid taking in alot of white starch products and sugary foods (junk foods) as much as possible. In his family, diabetes runs on both his mother's and his father's side of the family. In my family, it runs on my mother's side, but not on my father's side of my family. That is probably why I haven't come down with it up to now, even though I'm morbidly obese (around 160 pounds overweight).
I'm in Overeaters Anonymous, and I have been fine tuning my food plan and my abstinence for the last two years. I've slowly given up more and more binge foods and unhealthy foods, one day at a time. I'm not perfect at this, but I turn it over to my Higher Power and work the program as best I can. It seems to help most of the time, but sometimes I take back my self will, and make an unhealthy food choice at one meal, usually lunch. My husband doesn't have that option, since he eats the lunch I pack him, and doesn't eat anything else while at work. I eat at home.
Denise Phares/kitties4
If you're diabetic, and have trouble controlling your blood sugar with diet alone, then I suggest you take the Metformin. My husband also tests his blood sugar with a tiny blood tester and test strips twice a day, before breakfast and after his last meal of the day, which is dinner. So far, he hasn't had any complications from his diabetes, but we are both trying to lose weight, which I know will help control it better. I don't have diabetes, but I avoid taking in alot of white starch products and sugary foods (junk foods) as much as possible. In his family, diabetes runs on both his mother's and his father's side of the family. In my family, it runs on my mother's side, but not on my father's side of my family. That is probably why I haven't come down with it up to now, even though I'm morbidly obese (around 160 pounds overweight).
I'm in Overeaters Anonymous, and I have been fine tuning my food plan and my abstinence for the last two years. I've slowly given up more and more binge foods and unhealthy foods, one day at a time. I'm not perfect at this, but I turn it over to my Higher Power and work the program as best I can. It seems to help most of the time, but sometimes I take back my self will, and make an unhealthy food choice at one meal, usually lunch. My husband doesn't have that option, since he eats the lunch I pack him, and doesn't eat anything else while at work. I eat at home.
Denise Phares/kitties4
Sherrie, I'm insulin resistant with PCOS and my doc put me on Metformin a few years ago to help with the insulin resistance. It was kind of rough on my stomach, and I could only tolerate it for four months, but that combined with Atkins is how I lost the last forty pounds. I'm thinking that I may go back on it to lose the last ten, but I'm ashamed to say that I may not be that motivated! 
It can't hurt to try, no?
Mary
It can't hurt to try, no?
Mary
Hey Sherri,
I have been taking Metformin since late June of this year.
I am insulin reistant, and although I contolred it on my own with food and exercise, I was never able to get my insulin to be stable, so it has helped me greatly.
The main reason I started it was to help regulate ovulation since I am trying to get pregnant, but it ended up doing the following for me;
1.) Increased my weight loss
2.) Curbed my appetite
3.) Regulated my insullin
If you are predisposed to diabetes, like I am, no matter what you do, unless you are very strict and don't mess up once, your body will not be able to regulate your insulin like it can while on Metformin. That is just soemthing you have to come to terms with on your own, to admit you need outside help because your body isn't doing it.
I look a Metformin as a crutch I need at the moment to make sure I am level, but I am putting in the hard work to compliment it with proper diet and exercise, so I can get off it, weighing significantly less than when I started, and maintaining the tools I need along the way.
In short, I would say give it a chance... I think the scarriest thing about this for me, was admitting I had a problem that required medication.
Good Luck
I have been taking Metformin since late June of this year.
I am insulin reistant, and although I contolred it on my own with food and exercise, I was never able to get my insulin to be stable, so it has helped me greatly.
The main reason I started it was to help regulate ovulation since I am trying to get pregnant, but it ended up doing the following for me;
1.) Increased my weight loss
2.) Curbed my appetite
3.) Regulated my insullin
If you are predisposed to diabetes, like I am, no matter what you do, unless you are very strict and don't mess up once, your body will not be able to regulate your insulin like it can while on Metformin. That is just soemthing you have to come to terms with on your own, to admit you need outside help because your body isn't doing it.
I look a Metformin as a crutch I need at the moment to make sure I am level, but I am putting in the hard work to compliment it with proper diet and exercise, so I can get off it, weighing significantly less than when I started, and maintaining the tools I need along the way.
In short, I would say give it a chance... I think the scarriest thing about this for me, was admitting I had a problem that required medication.
Good Luck
Snugglepotomus
i know i'm a bit late to this post.......not to mention pretty much a total lurker for the last year. but, i have a question for all the ppl that answered Sherrie's about metformin. I have been taking it for about a month now. i just found out that a year ago i was prediabetic and the dr didn't tell me. she told me to take this medicine but just made it seem like it was a supplement to my dieting at the time. when i fell off the wagon i quit taking the meds. now, a year later i started having some health problems that sent me back to the dr and in for more labs that indicated i'm even worse blood sugar and insulin wise. the dr didn't tell me that i was prediabetic tho until i specifically asked her. grrr i wanted to hurt her.
anyway, my question may be a bit too graphic but.......i have been taking metformin for about 5 weeks now. and my stomach is TORE UP! i've had 1 solid BM since i started it. now, i know the dr said it had a tendancy to do that with some ppl which is why she tells me to take it with my supper. but, i am taking 2, sometimes 3 iron pills a day and would think that would cause a lil firming up! is this the norm? i definately think it's helping me lose weight. heck, i lost about 8 lbs in one week (had stomach bug on top of meds killing my stomach). it certainly made me understand why some ppl have used laxatives to lose. but, i don't know how much i can take of it, much less how much my hemorrhoids can take. i don't have a huge hemorrhoid problem, just small ones from child birth. but, having your stomach tore up like this for 5 weeks straight can do a number on lil ones!
is there any other meds that do the same job as metformin without the stomach side effects? and, how long should i try to tuff it out to reap the benefits? oh, i've definately noticed i eat way less because i know how quickly and how it's coming out lol. and i've definately noticed that it has helped my blood sugar/insulin.
anyway, my question may be a bit too graphic but.......i have been taking metformin for about 5 weeks now. and my stomach is TORE UP! i've had 1 solid BM since i started it. now, i know the dr said it had a tendancy to do that with some ppl which is why she tells me to take it with my supper. but, i am taking 2, sometimes 3 iron pills a day and would think that would cause a lil firming up! is this the norm? i definately think it's helping me lose weight. heck, i lost about 8 lbs in one week (had stomach bug on top of meds killing my stomach). it certainly made me understand why some ppl have used laxatives to lose. but, i don't know how much i can take of it, much less how much my hemorrhoids can take. i don't have a huge hemorrhoid problem, just small ones from child birth. but, having your stomach tore up like this for 5 weeks straight can do a number on lil ones!
is there any other meds that do the same job as metformin without the stomach side effects? and, how long should i try to tuff it out to reap the benefits? oh, i've definately noticed i eat way less because i know how quickly and how it's coming out lol. and i've definately noticed that it has helped my blood sugar/insulin.
Well I'm sorry, but I think your doc telling you that you were prediabetic and not explaining that the Metformin was for insulin resistance was just a bit too casual! It really isn't for weight loss, it's to make your cell receptors accept insulin and once they start doing that, you will lose weght with a diet...generally a low carb diet. When I started on mine, he started with a low dose and then upped it, at which point I couldn't tolerate it cuz it tore my stomach up, too. So I went back to a lower dose, but then couldn't tolerate that anymore. I did lose forty pounds in four months on it combined with Atkins so it was well worth it for me.
There is a Glucophage XR, same thing as Metformin, that is time released so there is less upset. I didn't lose anymore weight with it though.
Just a warning, most diabetic medicine makes you GAIN weight!
So be sure to DRILL your doc before they change your medicine.
Mary
There is a Glucophage XR, same thing as Metformin, that is time released so there is less upset. I didn't lose anymore weight with it though.
Just a warning, most diabetic medicine makes you GAIN weight!
So be sure to DRILL your doc before they change your medicine.Mary
IT KILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLS my stomach this post is gonna make me get back on track with it, i am supposed to take it 3 times a day with my meals but i only ended up getting up to two pills cause i would have horriable bathroom problems, i took it awhile ago and refused to take it and then my dr convinced me to start it again, i would recomend taking one pill at dinner time when you dont have any other plans for the night, alsoo i noticed taking it mid eating my food that the results are better...i will say i think its a lot to do with the weight that i have lost
www.myspace.com/realcoolamanda
Most Active
Recent Topics
